M2 Air Dryer

davelees1 · Dec 1, 2008

If you've got a Freightliner M2, do yourself a favor and check the air dryer. There is a big hose clamp on the top and a metal bracket on the bottom. If that hose clamp comes off, the thing will shake and break the bottom bracket. This happened to us, 150 miles from a delivery on I-10 in California at 3 AM. It fell off, locked up the brakes, cost $1,500 for towing and $1,000 repair bill, all because a $5 hose clamp came off! Another fine Freightliner piece of work!

TeamCaffee · Dec 1, 2008

Is your M2 brand new and your first load? Or whas this something that has been overlooked many time while doing a pre trip?

It is very easy to blame someone else and Freightliner has done a lot of amazing things but if this truck has been used much virbrations cause a lot of things to break.

Accountability

mrgoodtude · Dec 1, 2008

TeamCaffee said:
Is your M2 brand new and your first load? Or whas this something that has been overlooked many time while doing a pre trip?

It is very easy to blame someone else and Freightliner has done a lot of amazing things but if this truck has been used much virbrations cause a lot of things to break.

Accountability

Linder what happened??
You used to be one of the sweetest most approachable EO members then you "modified"..
I have never nor would I ever look at a air driver air clamp while doing my pretrip..
If I were to be honest I thump my tires while checking my lights.
If 5 expediters checked this clamp because of this post and 1 found a similar scenario it is gold.
Not all of us are worthless insignificant tools and appreciate the feedback Dave brings.
I am a big fan of you always have been but really is this worthy of a smite?

davekc · Dec 1, 2008

MIght have been hard to detect this with a pre-trip.
Why? if the clamp was engaged he would have had air pressure.
The immediate air loss wouldn't have came until the line came off, was severed, or the whole unit became disengaged from the frame.

piper1 · Dec 1, 2008

Having the fittings (or better yet learning how) to bypass your air drier if it breaks or otherwise fails is a very cheap alternative to these kind of crazy costs. Bypassing them isn't hard and you would be amazed how few road service outfits will do it for you as they will only be able to bill you 1/2 hour labor to do it.

davekc · Dec 1, 2008

That would have been my plan. Just bypass it as a temporary fix. If nothing else you would have eliminated the tow part of the bill.

cheri1122 · Dec 1, 2008

I'm with Mr 'Tude: (though I do check the hoses & clamps under the hood) - I doubt I'd have caught this one on a pretrip without the heads up - thanks, Dave.

taternuts · Dec 2, 2008

Agreed on the Air Dryer bypass, All you need to do is hook the 2 large air lines together and ignore the little one...

However...

Bendix is recent years have introduced a whole new air dryer... It is the AD-IS air dryer and bypassing it can be difficult? Why? Well most of these units are "tank mounted" Which means that there is no other air line going to the tank as with older dryers...

To By pass an AD IS air dryer, you must connect a T fitting to the pressure protection valve (pop off valve) and use tons of fittings and reducers to get it to work...

By passing these air dryers are TEMPORARY ONLY... With winter coming, the driver that travel up north will have moisture FREEZE in there air tanks... You really dont want that... Road service... Tows... Can get pricey... More then just fixing the air dryer....

TeamCaffee · Dec 2, 2008

My point is everything wears with vibration and we as the drivers of the truck need to watch for breakage or worn items. The stress we put on these trucks from our rough roads we constantly drive on just amazes me how well our trucks do stay together. When something finally does let go to blame all of it all on something or someone else just does not seem right.

Hose clamps are not the sturdiest things made and they have a tendency to break. The warning in the thread is great as I bet and hope many people will check their clamps and I am sure some are going to find theirs are loose or just about ready to break.

davelees1 · Dec 3, 2008

Sometimes I spend more time under the hood than in the seat of this truck. I bought this truck used and the clamp on the top of the air dryer was probably gone when I bought it so I had no idea there was even supposed to be one there. Neither did the two guys that I paid to do the 6 month inspections or all of the Freightliner mechanics who worked on this thing. That included replacement of a head gasket, steering gearbox, and about a complete AC and AC line rebuild and much, much more. Now, everytime I open the hood, that clamp is the first thing I look for. I'm just trying to save someone else some grief.